Pope Francis admitted to sometimes feeling tired at Thursday's Chrism Mass in St Peter's as part of his busy Holy Week schedule. "The tiredness of priests. Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it, often, especially when I am tired myself," the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff said at the Holy Thursday Mass for the diocese of Rome. "I pray for you as you labour amid the people of God entrusted to your care, many of you in lonely and dangerous places. "Our weariness, dear priests, is like incense which silently rises up to heaven. Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father".
But the pope also warned priests about the temptation to "rest however we please, as if rest were not itself a gift of God". He also told them to beware of the danger of becoming self-centred.
"Do I know how to take a break from myself, from the demands I make on myself, from my self-seeking and from my self-absorption?," he asked the clergy present.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
